Novice Network Feedback for SE

[Mykll]

Greetings,

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!

We will look into whether or not we can set it to automatically remove mentors from the Novice Network when they are away from their keyboard an extended period. Please continue to send in your feedback regarding both mentors and beginner players, as we would like to continue to make this feature a good experience for both types of players.

You know, with the historical limitations this game as had (beta trying to log in, 2.0 release nobody could get on, initiating AFK kick timers, too many people in instances nobody could join in theirs, people forming lines in the beginning talking to NPCs that initiates a cutscene because of limits there as well, limitations on when people can create new characters on servers, housing plots, etc. etc. on and on and on...) and yet another limited aspect is being released to the community with 100 only Mentors allowed, and suddenly it is like everyone is shocked that someone could possibly never log out or stay AFK taking up a spot?

[Judah_Brandt]

On Jenova the Novice channel is seemingly working as intended. Sometimes it gets off-topic but overall we reign ourselves in and point out when people are doing something we don't think belongs in the channel, such as FC self-promotion. Other than basic tact, we've helped out a number of new players and had a few who politely didn't want to be a part of the system. Not quite sure if it's just a player quality issue or what but as I said it's operating well thus far.

[WinterLuna]

100 mentors is way too many to begin with. There's always around 5-10 new members whenever I am in the channel, paired with 100 mentors.

I also think the requirements to be a mentor should be harder to obtain. Not just by levels, but by other means. I've seen too many rude, inexperienced and unwilling players with the crown next to their name, abusing both the chat and Mentor Roulette.

[Lmcgyver]

Many mentors in the Cerberus network (not sure about others, as I am only on Cerberus) are just using the novice chat as a global chat channel... it's honestly getting to the point where I am considering filtering it out (something I really don't want to do), just so my chat isn't constantly flooded by random banter that I have absolutely no interest in from people I don't know... and I can imagine that many newbies feel the same way.

I filed a report with a GM, asking about whether or not random chit-chat was allowed in the channel, and basically got "Sorry to hear the novice chat channel didn't turn out as you expected. We cannot force players not to talk about random stuff, so we can't do anything" (summarized, because I can't copy/paste it). Definite rules should be set and enforced about what can and cannot be said in the chat. There's many ways for people to communicate (linkshells are a prime example) - it's not like restricting the novice chat (which is supposedly intended purely for helping new players, and should be used as such) is going to stop people from being able to talk to each other.

[Atoli]

Our newbies actually apprechiated the socializing in the novice chat
Of course this discussion came up more than once on Ragnarok too, and so far I've just been quietly observing the various opinions on this topic.

Personally, I don't see much fault in further talk (as long as it's still within the rules of FFXIV in general..had to kick someone already who was spamming his sexy time texts there..>.>) if the primary function is still to help newbies. I'm not on Cerberus, so I don't know how bad Luna's experience was since she said not one newbie was helped there, but at least on my server, every single newbie was showered with attention and help from answers to dungeon runs to equipment gifts and so on, to the point where I actually had some of them complain about that in private talk ("it's a bit overbearing, sometimes I just want to do things by myself").
But sometimes mentors have questions too, especially after a big patch where everything is new and many don't know what is right or wrong anymore. People got so much shit for asking if vit or str is the way to go as a tank, even through the stat balance was as new to them as to any newbie. We also had several newbies defend the socializing mentors, saying they feel like part of the community right away like this instead of the complete silence they have to live with for most of the early levels until they end up in their first FC or LS around lvl 30+.
Maybe someone really shy might not ask anything, but I guess anyone who dares to join a legacy server is really bold..?

What I'm saying is basically: the chat has been helpful to many, not just newbies so far. Most of the newbies feel at home, every single help request has been met with overwhelming support, and the bit of extra talk had no negative influence on any of that. The biggest negative "impact" it had was on other mentors who felt that the chat became too distracting for raids, but that could be fixed by moving the novice channel into an extra chat tab during raids.

Fact is - the need for a global chat channel is there. If SE gave us one, the novice chat wouldn't get abused at all and those who do not care about global conversations could just turn it off completely without missing out on anything; while everyone who enjoyed it a little too much in the novice channel would have a place to talk at without bending the definitions of the novice channel.
Of course, SE would need to crack down harder on RMT spammers if they integrated that..

[Morzy]

I agree that we should not just assume the novices dont wanna socialize and that just cause we see it as bad doesnt mean they are thinking the same.

Think about it. They wont be in there forever. If they could jump in social conversations they might be more inclined to make friends.

And after all can you seriously sit here and tell me that being social isnt part of this game, especially in a chat that CONNECTS us veterans to new players.

It should be our duty as representatives of the community and player edequite to give them the friendly supportive atmosphear, not some strict Q&A hotline.

[Derceto]

Another feature added to this game with barely enough foresight invested to even call it foresight. How they didn't see these problems coming from a 1000 miles away is beyond me.

[Morzy]

If theres too much social conversations, fine, thats out of balance and should be further regulated. But please dont punish and kick just because its there.

[zuzu-bq]

Social conversation is ok when it include the new players. Make them feel welcome. But random conversation between mentors may annoy new players, and since is pretty hard to get out from the chat this may become an issue for the game.

There are some issues happening altogether:
- Mentors abusing of kick powers
- RMT players being invited and returning to Novice Channel
- Notification when you're unable to join the Network to be spammy since it shows everytime you change areas

I know this system is based on mutual trust/respect and common sense but is it any possible to rank mentors somehow in the future? So novices can like trust this guy better instead of that guy. Identifying then mentors that may know more than others.

[BigRed5392]

I recruited an active newbie named Eke Dalamiq who enjoyed the idea of the chat. She is a fresh player to ff14, and found out she only had 40hrs game time in the chat and didnt wanna waste it.

She asked questions and got good replies but as the day went on, mentors talked about alex, and other spoilerific things. She as a newbie tried to get it to stop, or asked what they were talking about and got told "don't worry about it." She is in an LS with me as well and told me that she was upset that the mentors were ruining her first 40hrs of gameplay. She thinks as a newbie it is a vital tool, and a good first step for new comers, like herself, to join before joining an FC. its a good way to get the basics like where stuff is located and what abbreviations that are common mean and stuff like that. It can be overwhelming to newbies to hear about the end game content and other end-game related stuff like rotations and playstyles for jobs when they are lvl 10 class.

Use the tool to help newbs adjust and learn basics. Answer their questions in basic terms and dont go into the higher lvl content.

Think of it like this: People dont want to waste their time wiping over again cause of someone not being good at their job, so in order to help lower that, help the newbs with the basics, because without the basics it is harder to learn the roles. Prior to this network to help people improve, there was really nothing for newbies to get decent help and they get told "gitgud" when asking for tips at higher lvls cause they were fending for themselves most of the way.

I found a reddit post that basically covers the etiquette that should be used in the novice network. (this post was actually made by my fc leader on my server) https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._basic_please/

basically: give the newbies the help u would want to get when u first start playing a game and have never seen anything about before.